Lim Wei-ling

Thirteen years on, Lim Wei-ling still remembers the first exhibition she mounted at the fledging Wei-Ling Gallery (then known as Townhouse Gallery). “We had to find someone to sponsor the printing of the programme,” she laughs. Much has changed since then. Apart from the flagship space in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, Lim also runs another two galleries, having establishing, along the way, a reputation for showing the finest and boldest contemporary Malaysian art. “Now, we even publish our own books,” she says proudly, having become the largest publisher of artist’s books in Malaysia, with over 100 titles to its name.

Growing the gallery, she says, has been an organic process. “It’s very much been step-by-step growth; opportunities came up and, when we could, we took them.” This was very much the case with her other outposts, Wei-Ling Contemporary in The Gardens Mall, Kuala Lumpur, and WLG@Victory Annexe in the Eastern & Oriental Hotel, Penang.

The latter was a homecoming of sorts for her as Penang was where she grew up. It was also here that her interest in the creative arts was first nurtured, thanks to her parents, architect Jimmy Lim and professional violinist Winnie Cheah. “Growing up, I was surrounded by books, art and music. Naturally, I absorbed it all and it has stayed with me – it’s as natural to me as being alive,” she says. While she did go to art school, it didn’t lead directly to the path she ended up on. She had a short spell designing jewellery before moving on to stock brokering. It was, in a way, a fortuitous move: to escape the stresses of the brokerage, she painted, amassing a body of works that, at the encouragement of her husband, corporate lawyer Yohan Rajan, she decided to exhibit. One thing led to another and Wei-Ling Gallery was born.

The gallery gained its early repute for featuring local emerging artists but, gradually, it began nurturing artists as well, a role that Lim finds particularly rewarding. “I work with people I respect, who have a passion for their craft, for wanting to always push beyond what they have achieved,” she says. “We support and encourage them, and we do this by establishing residences and promoting them, not only here but also internationally.” While the gallery has mounted exhibitions in China, India, Pakistan and Singapore, for example, it is, perhaps, its participation at art fairs like the China International Gallery Exposition, Art Taipei, Art Stage Singapore and Art Basel Hong Kong that is a greater vindication of its achievements. “Getting into some of these fairs is not about whether you can afford to or not; your admission is actually based on the art you’re planning to show – if it’s good, you’re in; otherwise, you’re not,” she explains. “That we’ve managed this, achieved this international recognition for the art we promote – this makes all we do so worth it!”